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JENNIFER RUSH

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Hey yo!
I meant to post this sooner, but we had a big winter storm come through up here
in MI and we were without power (and internet!) for what seemed like a really
really long time. As much as I love apocalypse TV/Movies, I do not want to know
what it’s like to live in one. No Netflix? No internet? NO HEAT? No thank you.

But
back to business! I’m gearing up to share an old manuscript I’m revisiting and
I’m inviting readers to join in the fun! It’s a paranormal romance called
POSSESSION and there will definitely be hot guys involved. (Like that one ---->)

This manuscript is very dear to me. It's one of the first books I wrote (and completed) that I really fell in love with, and that I thought might be *the one*. You know what I mean. Turned out it wasn't the one, but I still feel like it has something special, despite its flaws and weaknesses. I would like to pull it out of that drawer and dust it off and maybe do something with it someday.

To get there, I’m trying something
a little bit different --- I'm using a new iOS app to
share the manuscript with a selected group of readers, so you can tell me what you think
before I start a round of revisions. If you're interested, I’m including the
sign-up link below! Spots are filling up quickly, so if you want to join in,
hit up that link before midnight on March 25th!

A while back, someone asked me on Twitter to post an excerpt of REBORN. Of course, I said yes. Because I love sharing teasers! I had planned on posting this back when that dear, sweet reader asked for an excerpt, but I've been having website issues and just now fixed it. Or it seems to be fixed. If you have any issues posting comments or navigating on here, please tweet me or email!

So to celebrate getting the site back up and running, and to do what I promised I'd do, I'm posting an excerpt of REBORN from Nick's point-of-view. This takes place early in the book, and you'll see Nick has gotten himself in a bit of trouble. I really did love writing Nick. He was sometimes unpredictable. Sometimes so kind and caring it hurt. I seriously can't wait for you all to read REBORN.

All right, here we go!

--------------

Anna gave me a shove. "Sit down so I can take a look at
your injuries." All trace of the earlier panic was gone, leaving only her
exasperation, and a driving need to take care of something that was broken.
Unfortunately, that something was me.

"You don't have to—"

"I know I don't have to." Her jaw tensed. "Sit
down."

I closed the toilet seat and sat, feeling the ache of the
fight settling into my joints. I needed pain killers. Maybe something stronger
than OTC.

"Where's Sam?" I asked.

"In town, filling the gas cans."

"Cas?"

She bent down to fish out the first aid kit from beneath the
sink. "He went running about a half hour ago." She unzipped the kit
on the vanity top and started tearing into gauze packs. I caught her hand mid
tear and she glared over at me.

"Stop," I said. "Don't waste the supplies. A
rag will do."

She frowned, but didn't argue, and switched over to a rag she
dug out of the closet. She wetted it down and came over to me, hunching so we
were face to face.

Her blond hair was braided, and it hung over her shoulder,
tied off with a black rubber band. Dark shadows painted the skin beneath her
eyes. She hadn't been sleeping well lately. Flashbacks and old demons haunting
her out of bed. I could relate. None of us really slept well, except for Cas.
Cas could sleep through an air raid.

Anna cleaned the blood from my face, and the open wound on
the side of my eye, working with the methodic confidence of a professional,
even though she wasn't.

"Why do you keep doing this?" she mumbled.

I scowled. "Why do you keep asking?"

Another frown. It was her default expression with me.

"What's going on, Nick? Is it more flashbacks?"

Yes.

I looked past her at the towel hanging from the towel rack.
It used to be brown. Now it was a faded mud color.

I saw a flash of a girl and I slammed my eyes shut.

I kept seeing her. The same girl. And every time I did, she
was shaking. No, not shaking. Trembling.

I’ve received a lot of questions about Reborn (Altered #3), especially now that people have read Erased, so I thought I’d do another update post for those of you who might be new to the series (or the
blog).

Altered and Erased were Anna’s books, and her story ended
with Erased. But, while her story has an end, the Branch’s story doesn’t. The
same could be said for the boys. There are still a lot of holes in the boys’
pasts. Who were they before the Branch? How did they come to work together? This
was something I wanted to explore in Reborn, and I really really wanted to
explore it with Nick.

Reborn is Nick’s book, for sure, but it will be told in a
dual POV. Half from Nick’s POV, and half from a new girl character’s POV. If
you read my old post about A3, then you might have heard me call her Callie,
but once I started writing the book, I realized she wasn’t a Callie at all. So
I changed her name! It’s now Elizabeth, and it fits so much better.

Nick has been having flashbacks about his life before and
after joining the Branch, and there’s one girl he can’t get out of his head. He
breaks from the group to do a bit more digging, and that’s when the action
begins. Who is this girl? And is she connected to the Branch?

Reborn is very close to being finished (YAY!), so I can
confidently say that it turned out to be a lot different than Altered and
Erased. For one, it’s a dual POV, and one of those POVs is a genetically
altered (male) badass. I’ve never really tackled writing a male POV (other than
Trout in Bot Wars – but he’s a preteen, so it’s different!). Nick doesn’t see
the world the same way Anna does. That was an adjustment, but a great writing
experience. He’s also a lot angrier, a lot more broken, and a bit
unpredictable. I loved writing him.

Elizabeth is also broken, for many reasons, and I certainly
don’t want to give anything away. But, I can say, she’s a perfect match for
Nick, in that they’re both confused about the past, present, and especially
their future. They both have a lot of healing to do before either of them can let another person into their lives.

When I set out to write this book, and when I tried to
picture who would make a great companion for Nick, I originally pictured a girl
who was as equally badass as Nick, someone to whip him into shape, someone who
wouldn’t take his crap. But then I realized, Nick would never let someone like
that into his life. He would immediately go on the defensive. He grew up in a
home where he was constantly pushed around, whipped into shape, and those kinds
of strong personalities turn Nick off.

What someone like Nick needs is a person who is not afraid
of a damaged past, who knows what pain is, and who would accept him, flaws and
all.

I love writing characters who kickass, especially female
characters that kickass! But strength can come in many forms, and I thought
perhaps it was time to write a female character that, on the outside, is the
opposite of kickass, but on the inside, is as strong as steel.

Reborn is a long ways away (eleven months!) but I can’t
wait for people to read it. It IS different from Altered and Erased, but I
think it’s a good different. And of course, there IS lots of ass kicking!

If you have any other questions about Reborn, drop them
in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer!